06-25-2009, 05:27 AM
1)
Especially now. He had his armor and staff back, and a collection of Balthus' personal papers and books as well. True, the girl said they were trapped, but traps can be disarmed.
Still...
"Here," he said, handing Daniel the strip of cloth. "Better cover those ears. I wasn't lying when I said Lord Tomas didn't like elves. Best be prepared, wherever we come out."
The boy's optimism was contagious, but Marcus knew deep inside they should prepare for the worst.
Olan ordered the last of the men from the tent.
He'd followed the directions to the letter. A trough the size of a coffin found in the massacred town's slaughterhouse had been appropriated, cleaned, and then filled with the blood of the murdered townsfolk. Next to it, a small table held a pile of human bones specially prepared as per Balthus' instruction and the ornate dark crystal.
Olan was a warrior. He had little talent for magic, but rituals like this fascinated him.
Now that he was alone, it was time to begin.
He gathered the polished bones still reeking of sulfur and slowly dropped them into the trough, watching them sink into the red. He then took the large crystal in his hands and began the chant Balthus had told him.
"Cruor Somes
Umbra Animus
Certamen
Quod Ago Iterum"*
He repeated the words again as he set the crystal on the surface of the blood. Unlike the bones, the crystal stayed steadily on the surface. A purple eldritch glow begin to emanate from its swirling depths as Olan spoke the chant a third time. The blood began to ripple and bubble around the crystal; small crackles of dark purple sparks shot across the red liquid.
The warrior took a step back, his eyes locked on the spectacle. Only now did the crystal begin to sink into the red froth with rolled in to swallow it.
After a few moments, a skeletal arm suddenly shot up from the churning crimson, fingers stretched wide. As he hand slowly closed, more froth raced along the surface of the bones (like ants swarming on prey Olan thought) and began to form into muscle and sinew.
The first arm rested on the trough's edge as a second arm emerged and a skeletal shape pushed itself up from the roiling blood that was rapidly being drawn around the newly forming body, wrapping itself around the bone as a new coat of flesh. By the time the figure managed to pull itself to its feet, every trace of blood in the trough had been absorbed into a new form, human in every appearance save the chunk of black crystal that filled the cavity where the heart and lungs should be and looked as if the entire body had grown in around it.
Olan managed to shake off his morbid awe long enough to drop to one knee in respect. "Master, it is an honor."
Bathus took his first breath of immortality, and smiled. "Well done."
* - Trans: "Body of Blood
Soul of Shadow
Join Together
and Live Once More"
Especially now. He had his armor and staff back, and a collection of Balthus' personal papers and books as well. True, the girl said they were trapped, but traps can be disarmed.
Still...
"Here," he said, handing Daniel the strip of cloth. "Better cover those ears. I wasn't lying when I said Lord Tomas didn't like elves. Best be prepared, wherever we come out."
The boy's optimism was contagious, but Marcus knew deep inside they should prepare for the worst.
* * *
Olan ordered the last of the men from the tent.
He'd followed the directions to the letter. A trough the size of a coffin found in the massacred town's slaughterhouse had been appropriated, cleaned, and then filled with the blood of the murdered townsfolk. Next to it, a small table held a pile of human bones specially prepared as per Balthus' instruction and the ornate dark crystal.
Olan was a warrior. He had little talent for magic, but rituals like this fascinated him.
Now that he was alone, it was time to begin.
He gathered the polished bones still reeking of sulfur and slowly dropped them into the trough, watching them sink into the red. He then took the large crystal in his hands and began the chant Balthus had told him.
"Cruor Somes
Umbra Animus
Certamen
Quod Ago Iterum"*
He repeated the words again as he set the crystal on the surface of the blood. Unlike the bones, the crystal stayed steadily on the surface. A purple eldritch glow begin to emanate from its swirling depths as Olan spoke the chant a third time. The blood began to ripple and bubble around the crystal; small crackles of dark purple sparks shot across the red liquid.
The warrior took a step back, his eyes locked on the spectacle. Only now did the crystal begin to sink into the red froth with rolled in to swallow it.
After a few moments, a skeletal arm suddenly shot up from the churning crimson, fingers stretched wide. As he hand slowly closed, more froth raced along the surface of the bones (like ants swarming on prey Olan thought) and began to form into muscle and sinew.
The first arm rested on the trough's edge as a second arm emerged and a skeletal shape pushed itself up from the roiling blood that was rapidly being drawn around the newly forming body, wrapping itself around the bone as a new coat of flesh. By the time the figure managed to pull itself to its feet, every trace of blood in the trough had been absorbed into a new form, human in every appearance save the chunk of black crystal that filled the cavity where the heart and lungs should be and looked as if the entire body had grown in around it.
Olan managed to shake off his morbid awe long enough to drop to one knee in respect. "Master, it is an honor."
Bathus took his first breath of immortality, and smiled. "Well done."
* - Trans: "Body of Blood
Soul of Shadow
Join Together
and Live Once More"